Plan, Do, Check, Oops

Plan:
Prio 1 - the wedding quilt
Prio 2 - both the mystery and the applique class

Do
Quilt quilt quilt on the wedding quilt
Slow and steady progress on the other two. My leaves are getting better, and I've organized all of the pieced strips for the mystery in their respective blocks - 4 for block 1 and 4 for block 2. Whenever I get a chance, I work on one of these projects.

Check
Wedding quilt now in the binding phase
applique - still need to do a few leaves
mystery - working on block 2, I sew strip A to strip B and strip C to strip D. That makes the first square. Then I sew the second, then the third, then...

Oops.

Looks like I made only 5 C strips. There are 13 D Strips in my C strip pile. Maybe I switched stacks? Nope. I really have 26 D strips.
So much for my hope of getting everything done for Thursday's and Friday's meetings.
Here a picture of the ripped apart D strips, now organized to sew into C strips.

Sigh.

Tools: washi tape, bobbin holder, templates, pincushion

Washi tape is Japanese rice paper tape. It's hopelessly addictive because of the many beautiful patterns. It can also be used just like masking tape, and it doesn't lose its glue, so I can use it in my sewing room.
Most recently I used it to hold quilting threads out of the way while machine quilting.

A piece of garden pond hose cut open makes a great holder for bobbins. I really don't like any of the holders on the market, but this one is just perfect for me. And Washi tape, of course, for the label.
 

Vellum makes a great template material. I cut a length, traced the pattern, and stitched holes into it with my sewing machine. Rubbing a little chalk into the holes transferred the pattern to the fabric.

My teacher at the Baltimore class had a little pillow that she uses as a third hand for shaping applique pieces. I was about to toss a new UFO into my UFO black hole when it occurred to me to make my own little pillow. Here's the result.

Dnp slice and dice done

Doesn't look like I'll get the top ready tonight - the blocks aren't together, and there are 2 borders to cut and sew. Not a problem, I'm happy to have gone as far as this.

DNP Quilt Along Saturday noon - blocks sewn

It's Saturday lunchtime, and my quilt along with the Cyberquilters is going smoothly.
Last night before I went to bed, I finished cutting the strips, and this morning I sewed all 16 blocks.
After lunch I'll give them one last starch, then slice 'n dice them.
The smaller layout is the one I've chosen, and will save the argyle layout for a future quilt with more interesting fabrics. This quilt I'm K.I.S.S.ing, Keeping It Supremely Simple.
Some blocks and the chosen layout are shown below.

Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt Along

As a member of Cyberquilters, I'm joining in on a quilt along this weekend. Pattern is Disappearing Nine Patch, and I'm making this for my sister.

Here's the block and some computer-generated layouts. I haven't decided yet which one. And there's a teeny tiny voice in my head that says swap the pattern and the pink.

Update on the wedding quilt

Today the quilting went as smooth as butter. Having a 12 inch harp on my sewing machine really makes it easy. This quilt is also divided into 3 sections, so I just worked on one section at a time. The first sections I finished last Sunday, but due to a business trip I didn't get back to it until today. Once I started quilting, it went so smoothly that I finished not only the 3 sections, but I also added the hearts that I'd once planned to incorporate into the quilting process.
Next step after burying the threads is to quilt the borders. Nothing fancy, just simple lines.

machine quilting diane gaudynski

After a weekend of very miserable quilting on Isa's wedding quilt, I spent last evening ripping half of the stitches out. The rest will come out soon.
So I reset, got some advice online about machine quilting, and recceived the Diane Gaudynski book I'd ordered weeks ago. Guide to Machine Quilting.
The best and most consistent advice I got was to relax and take it slowly. Also the wine and soft music really clicked in my brain.
After work tonight, I first took an hour to familiarize myself with the book, reading up to the point that I felt ready to quilt.
Also needed some quilter's quality wine. What better wine than one I bought last fall at the Val d'Argent Quilt show, served in a 70+ year old glass? For music I chose Melody Gardot and Michael Buble.
Here are some pics of my tools and the much improved results. Yes, it's still jerky, but so far I haven't been breaking thread, even on the heavily-pieced sandwich.
The first test piece is stitched at 30% speed, the next at 50%, and the last is a sandwich with seams on both sides. Very tough, that last one, because the bottom seams can get caught on the machine base.
The blue stuff? Plain ol'  anti-slip drawer liner, which I prefer to any kind of glove.